Cytotoxicity of HBD3 for dendritic cells, normal human epidermal keratinocytes, hTERT keratinocytes, and primary oral gingival epithelial keratinocytes in cell culture conditions

•HBD3 is a very versatile host defense peptide.•It has antimicrobial activities, regulates innate immune mechanisms, and regulates chemokine and cytokine responses.•HBD3 also has cytotoxicity against eukaryotic cells.•We show that the cytotoxicity of HBD3 for DCs, NHEKs, hTERT keratinocytes, and GE keratinocytes varied with the cell type and the culture conditions.•Thus HBD3 has some cytotoxicity, which needs to be considered in future studies of HBD3-modulated chemokine and cytokine responses.